THE WABBIT KING is an innovative, inspiring, original piece of musical theatre for children. Themes of bullying, courage, sacrifice and tolerance are focused in an effervescent, humorous and uplifting way for young minds, placing these issues at the heart of a colourful, inventive and highly entertaining story. Based on a traditional Indian tale tracking the unlikely relationship between a rabbit and a lion, this piece has a global appeal and is the perfect vehicle for sparking imaginative discussion with children on relevant, topical issues.

Engaging 5-11 year olds in a truly theatrical experience that both questions and entertains is my ‘crie de cour’, as I have witnessed first-hand the gradual withdrawal of music and arts specialists from primary education and bewail the loss of a powerful resource in enabling children to understand what it means to relate to one another and to the wider, scarier world. Presenting Year 3 and Year 6 students at Benson School, Shirley, with the loose foundation of ‘The Tale of the Lion and The Rabbit’ in 2009 we brainstormed ideas and tried to create an imagined world in which this story might have happened. Why was the lion eating all the rabbits? Why was he so angry? Why did that particular rabbit go to meet the lion? Did he come from a village? Had he got a mother? Was she sad to see him go? Did he have a father? No? What happened? From questions such as these came a wealth of possibilities, admittedly many archetypes, but all very relevant to those young minds. I went ahead after the initial workshops and pieced together a story, writing an original script, integrating 60 children and then produced the production as the Year 6 summer play, titled – “THE RABBIT KING.” I wrote 5 original songs and the other songs used were well known tunes. A video of this production was taken. Following the success of this process I secured a job as an actor at The Polka Theatre, Wimbledon for a season and during that time working with children on a production called “All Join In”, I rewrote THE RABBIT KING for a smaller number of actors, having taken onboard the feedback from audience and children alike. I then approached Beth Wood at The Arc Arts Centre in Caterham, Surrey with the work and she was very keen to co-produce the play. At this point I decided to replace the well-known tunes with more original songs and set about writing the musical score. The ARC production of THE RABBIT KING (produced in association with my theatre company – Another Way Theatre) used a mix of professional and community actors including some children with special needs. The experience of rehearsing the piece was profoundly moving at times and Beth’s exceptional talent as a director brought an even more inclusive feel to the work. In performance it sold out all performances and the feedback was incredible. Adults were bringing their children back again the next day! The ARC production was an amazing experience and the second phase of development for THE RABBIT KING. It was an opportunity to hone the script and to see where alterations would be needed if it were taken further. We are now in phase three of THE RABBIT KING which has demanded a change of title and another change too in the focus of the presentation. Another Way Theatre and The Arc have moved into collaboration and are keen to present a puppet version of the piece, after an idea by Glyn Williams who played Rafe in the original production. We have decided to rename it THE WABBIT KING. This came about, because of comments made about the three-foot puppets, which are being designed by local designer Jill ‘Wiggy’ Wilson. At present we only have proto-types but they are well defined enough to be used in R&D and Jill noticed that whenever she showed them to people she invariably referred to them as ‘Wabbits’. This, allied with the fact there is a potential conflict with the title ‘Rabbit King’ in the USA necessitated our change of title. With the change, however comes a great opportunity as it places our production in a league of its own. The world of Wabbits is infinitely more mysterious and intriguing than the ordinary world of ‘Rabbits’ – so we have been able to get excited by this new impulse that has come into the development process. The response of children to these puppets is fantastic. They like the look of them – they want to touch them, to play with them – so to see them in performance as part of the play will be another feature to keep them focused and directed on the narrative of the story we present.